Corinphila fall auction series features rarities from DuBois, Schafer, Besancon, other name collections

By Charles Snee

Corinphila, the Swiss philatelic auction house, will present rare stamps and postal history from the Besancon, DuBois, Schafer and other significant name collections Nov. 24-25 and Nov. 27-Dec. 2 at its Zurich gallery.

The eight-day auction series will feature 12 separate catalogs offering the following material: part 3 of the DuBois collection of Australian states and Commonwealth of Australia (Nov. 24-25); the Besancon collection of British Africa, St. Helena, Ascension, Seychelles and Bushire (Nov. 24-25);

More than 1,100 lots of Europe and overseas stamps and postal history, featuring part 2 of the Peter Campbell collection of Australia and Australian States and the Brian Moorhouse estate of South and Central America (Nov. 27); crash and interrupted mail, the Constantin Kelemenis and Ronny van Pellecom collections of Haiti, and the Brian Moorhouse collection of the Haiti 1881-87 Liberty Head issue (Nov. 28);

Part 1 of the Simon Beresford-Wylie collection of 1840-41 Great Britain, the Ray Simpson collection of British stamp perforation, and more than 860 lots of Europe and overseas material, including rocket and space mail, the Polar Light collection of 1721-1938 Greenland, and the John Mayne collection of Togo postal history (Nov. 29);

The Jussi Tuori collection of 1881 and 1891 Finland revenue issues, part 1 of the Geza Homonnay collection of Hungarian post offices in Romania, and part 1 of a specialized collection of the Spain 1850-56 6-cuarto black (Nov. 30);

The Penelope collection of European No. 1s on cover, the Luis Alemany Indarte collection of 1850-80 incoming mail to Spain, the Richard Schafer collection of the Red Cross, and Liechtenstein and Switzerland stamps and postal history (Dec. 1); and part 1 of the Richard Schafer collection of rare Switzerland 1849-54 federal post frankings, part 2 of the James Johnstone collection of Switzerland 1882-99 Numeral issues, and Switzerland cantonal and local post stamps (Dec. 2).

Part 3 of the DuBois collection of Australian states and Commonwealth of Australia, to be offered Nov. 24-25, the first two days of the auction series, includes a complete sheet of 100 of the Western Australia 1854 4-penny blue (Scott 3), known to collectors as the Blue Swan.

“The stamp with the well-known blue swan motif was produced by lithography, with the artwork supplied by Perkins Bacon & Co. of London,” Corinphila said in an Oct. 16 press release. “Due to the long transit time the printing was done locally in Australia.”

Corinphila noted that two of the cliches, which produced the famous inverted frame error (Scott 3a; known only used), had been replaced. A cliche is the individual unit consisting of the design of a single stamp, combined with others to make up the complete printing plate.

“The provenance [of the sheet], which goes back a long way, is further evidence of the outstanding importance of this item in Australian philately,” Corinphila said.

Corinphila lists this complete sheet of 100 Western Australia 1854 4d blue stamps with a starting bid of 50,000 Swiss francs, roughly $55,630 in early November.

A remarkable artifact of early Switzerland cantonal postal history from the Schafer collection is a Dec. 9, 1850, cover sent from Zurich to Buch am Irchel franked with two examples of the Zurich 1846 4-rappen black Numeral (Scott 1L3) with red horizontal lines.

A single on cover is valued at $55,000 in the Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940. That value is in italics to indicate an item that can be a challenge to value accurately because of limited market data.

According to Corinphila, the cover was mailed during the period of the Swiss federal post, “and thus falls into a transitional period of the late but still permitted use of the Zurich [1846 4r black Numeral].”

Corinphila is offering this cover with a starting bid of 100,000fr (approximately $111,260).

Details of the Corinphila fall auction series are provided on the website, including online listings for the material in all 12 auction catalogs, as well as PDF catalogs that can be individually downloaded. Online bidding options are available.

Collectors can also contact Corinphila Auctions AG, Wiesenstrasse 8, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland, for additional information.

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